POLICE launched an investigation after the body of a man was found just a few hundred yards from Southampton’s sports centre yesterday.

Neighbours nearby heard the screams of the woman who made the grim discovery as she walked through the woodland that backs on to Coxford Road.

Police were quickly on the scene, close to the junction with Abbotsfield Road, and cordoned around the footpath and erected a large tarpaulin tent, right next to the electricity substation within the wooded area.

Four police cars and two police vans, one containing sniffer dogs, all lined the road where the body was found.

A fire crew from Redbridge arrived at the scene shortly after 8am to help police erect the tent over the body and a double manned ambulance was also called but the 57- year-old local man was confirmed dead at the scene.

Officers spent more than three hours combing the area for any evidence, as dog walkers and families heading to the sports centre looked on.

Following their investigation police confirmed that they were not treating the death as suspicious.

One nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said: “At around 8am I heard a scream and then suddenly the place was flooded with police cars and vans.”

A dog walker, who saw the officers, added: “It’s horrible to think of a dead body being found around here, expecially because so many families use this areas at the weekends because it is so close to the sports centre.

“It would have been terrible if a youngster had found it.”